


Hermione Granger, Muggleborn

by Slumber



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Hogwarts First Year, Muggleborn, Pre-Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-30
Updated: 2011-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:15:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26392513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slumber/pseuds/Slumber
Summary: Hermione Granger doesn't know what to do on the 31st of August.
Collections: 30-minute Writer's Block Challenge





	Hermione Granger, Muggleborn

Hermione Granger doesn't know what to do on the 31st of August. It is the last day she is to consider herself _Muggle_ , and the day after that, she'll start being a Muggleborn _witch_. Her parents didn't think the letter was real until they were visited by an actual witch a few days later, and then they saw Diagon Alley, and everything in there that made them believe that yes, their daughter was indeed a witch.

Later they would tell her that they'd always known she was a special child, and Hermione likes to think that she's always known as well. She's happy because it means there's an explanation, at last, for all of the things she cannot explain, for all of the things that she's made done one way or another that she isn't quite sure how she managed. She resisted asking for everything in sight, when they got to Diagon Alley, and tried hard to look like she wasn't gawking, that she _belonged_ , but it was difficult and there was so much more to learn, so when they reached the bookshop she let herself loose, and convinced her parents it was important--necessary, even--that she arm herself with knowledge as much as possible, because she could not arm herself with a whole lifetime's worth of having grown up knowing she was magical.

She has been reading voraciously up to this point. She knows the entirety of Hogwarts, A History by heart, she is certain. A History of Magic is another favorite of hers as well. There is even a fascinating book, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, that tells her she is possibly going to be classmates with a real hero of the war, the boy who defeated the most evil dark wizard of all time while still swathed in a toddler's clothes, The Boy Who Lived.

Hermione Granger is hooked, enthralled, and she absolutely,positively, _cannot_ wait for school to begin.

She even starts practicing some spells as she reads about them from her charms textbook. She knows she can't do the spells yet--there are laws against underaged magic, which one of her new books tells her--but she has fun practicing the swishing and the flicking and whispering the words as softly as she can, so as not to actually invoke the spells.

And then there is her wand--oh, how she loves it! It is vine, 10 3/4 inches, with a dragon heartstring core. A powerful core, if her book on wandlore is anything to go by. And vine wood, she reads, is a special kind of wood--rare, and useful for those destined to seek greater things in life. It is her wand, a magical thing that chose _her_ , and Hermione hugs it to her chest when she sleeps at night, happy and dreaming of Hogwarts.

It is the last day before she officially begins her education as a witch, and Hermione doesn't know what to do.

She realizes, suddenly, that there are so many different things left undone, so many different things left to figure out. Her family has decided to tell everyone they know that they are going to send her to a private boarding school somewhere in Scotland, but she worries that her parents will forget the International Statute of Secrecy and be punished by the wizarding police (Aurors, she thinks they are called. Or is it Magical Law Enforcers?) for an honest mistake. She worries that her cousins will ask too many questions, that when her parents stop telling their brothers and sisters what Hermione has excelled at in school lately, they will begin to wonder that something is up.

And she worries, too, about not being able to do well at school. She's always been smart, and she's always been intelligent, but magic as a whole is an entirely different sort of topic altogether, isn't it? What if, she wonders, what if there isn't really a way to _revise_ for it, and what if their performance is dependent on how powerful their natural magic is? She worries that she won't actually know what to do, when the time comes that she is to take her classes and do her best only to find that she doesn't really know how.

(And what if there is a mistake, and she isn't magical at all? What if she has to return home a Muggle again?)

Hermione barely manages to get through dinner, and though she smiles (weakly, but determinedly) at her parents when they ask her what is wrong, she is unable to sleep soundly that night.

*

It is the 1st of September, and Hermione Granger is going to Hogwarts.

She cannot remember ever being this scared and excited both at the same time. King's Cross is bustling, packed and full of children and parents and families and travelers, and she waits patiently by her mum while they weave through the crowd, on the lookout for Platform 9 and 3/4.

She is the first to spot the first wizarding family who goes through the platform pillar between 9 and 10. She tugs on her mum's sleeve, mouths a signal to her dad, and they watch as a family pushes a cart right _through the wall_ to disappear into it.

Her mum doesn't look too convinced that's the right way to the platform, but Hermione takes a deep breath and runs into the wall with her eyes closed and her fingers crossed. She keeps running, and when she opens her eyes she is on the other side. She turns around, all wide smiles and pleased grin, waving her parents over. Her mum looks a little ill, as though she can't believe what she just did and the act of going through the magical cloaking device of Platform 9 3/4 did not settle with her, but her dad looks far too excited himself. They help her get her things on the train, loading up an empty compartment and saying their goodbyes, and when Hermione hugs them goodbye she is a lot less terrified and a lot more excited.

She promises them she'll write, and they tell her they'll miss her. She waves at them as the train pulls away, looks back at the platform until they are but tiny little dots in the distance.

Hermione meets Neville Longbottom first. He is a first year, as she will be, but his family's all wizard and they thought he might not have been one, since he hardly exhibited any magical tendencies until he finally bounced away on Blackpool Pier. Hermione's mouth drops at the story, and Neville shrugs in such a funny way that she thinks it must happen fairly often for witches and wizards. The trolley cart comes along but Hermione remembers her parents telling her not to eat too many sweets, so she passes. Neville does too, and he tells her it's because his Gran told him not to.

It takes them a while before they realize that Neville's toad has gone missing. He panics and flails, nearly turning their compartment upside down before Hermione tells him to calm down, that she'll help him look as well. She walks down the train, knocking on compartments and asking students if they've seen a toad.

Nobody seems to have seen anything, and then she reaches the compartment of a boy with red hair and another boy with messy black hair. The redhead seems like he's about to perform a spell so she asks to see it, but it is a silly incantation that is clearly not a real magical spell at all. She reminds them that they're about to get to Hogwarts so they better put on their robes, and she continues on her way.

She tells Neville she hasn't seen his toad at all when she returns, and she is very sorry, but she's sure he'll turn up soon. Neville doesn't look half as convinced, but Hermione pats him on the arm and when they pull into Hogsmeade, they get on the same boat to paddle towards Hogwarts.

Hermione Granger remembers that this isn't just any school, that it isn't just any day, and once again she is nervous and worried. She doesn't know how to even begin to explain to Neville her concerns--he's still fretting over his toad--but she does hope that her Sorting doesn't go wrong. She falls behind a few other first years as they gather around the Deputy Headmistress, and she holds her breath, her fingers crossed, as she wishes desperately for the rest of her year to be as magical and wonderful as she'd dreamed. 

The Great Hall's doors open then, and Hermione Granger, Muggleborn, steps inside.

**Author's Note:**

> Please consider donating to local organizations who support trans individuals in your area.


End file.
